Dragons and the stubborn hooker.

"Forest Tea"

I'm involved with a weekly challenge called Textile Tuesday and the theme was dragon. I don't usually make dragons. I gravitate toward cats



obviously. :-)


I've made a dragon before out of curiosity (to see if I could)




and a lovely couple for a cyber-friend that is a dragophile. (hmm, probably not a real word that).




Both projects were 3D and for some reason I had that dimensionality locked into my brain. Sooo when this particular challenge was presented at TT, I decided on a type I hadn't done yet and started on the tail of a winged European style dragon.

I work in thread - size 10 crochet cotton almost exclusively. Which in itself is odd - I love to experiment, try new things but not in my art - I stick to the one medium - thread crochet. I enjoy it and like the idea of subverting the domestic context to my casual whim. Bwa ha ha. Oops. TMI there.

Doing 3D in crochet results in some fun objects, but is a pain in the gluteal adjacent orifice in that I use single stitch for the sculpting and it takes forever to make anything. I slip in some longer (ie faster working) stitches as well but sc gives me a tighter matrix, better control over subtle changes and a stable end product that practically stands on its own when stuffed without always needing a wire armature.

... and I have to be in the mood to put forth all the effort required in making a 3D object. Fickle muses + somewhat lazy artist = moodiness. ;-) Especially since I wanted the dragon to be elegantly sipping tea - was thinking an English European- style dragon.

Do you know how long it took me to realize I could just go ahead and make a flat dragon scene? Much too long. Sometimes the brain just goes away on vacation and doesn't bother to leave me a note. So I ripped the tail (moody yet frugal) and started on senor dragon in my flat pseudo-applique/ stacked images style of crochet "drawing" (for lack of a professional term) and am quite happy with the scene.

The kicker? I've been doing a lot of scene work lately and am really drawn to it right now. Aw. Man! I did not just type that. Honestly, that particular pun was unintentional (but I am leaving it in). :-D

So sometimes I lock an idea into my head and refuse to waver in my determination to do it that one and only way until I get the cosmic slap acorss the back of the head to try a different approach and just monkey with the entire concept.

And I wonder why things take me so long to accomplish.

sigh

;-)

Always
C

Day 2 - 8 months later

As I was saying... ;-)

The time does get away from me. I like to tell myself I took so long to get back to this because I wanted to finish crocheting the title banner first. And of course, I only just did that last week.

Like most things I photograph, the actual thing looks better. My "skill" with a camera is laughable and I apparently live in some sort of light-obliterating cave. Alas. :-)

I had toyed with an even more photo-shopped version:



but I really wanted to add the yarn ball/pillow - and, you guessed it, I suck at photoshop.

It may be difficult to tell, but I am serious about my work. I'm just not serious about my life and have consequently developed an attention span that can barely be measu...

oooo. pretty.

Oh! Where was I?

Sorry. Old, bad joke. But it still makes me laugh.

So I guess I'll start posting some (crappy) photos of my (fabulous) art and then blather on a bit trying to figure out such esoteric ideas as motivation, inspiration, voice - all the things I didn't learn at art school (which I didn't go to at all) and which were considered questionable practices at grad school (which trained me in the biological sciences but I opted instead for a life in art and craft obscurity).

Ooo. Now where to begin? Well that's a dilemma to sleep on.

Always,
the Cecinatrix